Militarisation is gaining momentum in many areas today – both territorial and systemic. The Arctic, NATO’s strengthening, and national military upgrades are just a few examples. For a demilitarised region like the Åland Islands, developments in neighbouring areas naturally raise important questions about how demilitarisation is affected.
This issue of the Journal of Autonomy and Security Studies (JASS) also turns to another partly demilitarised sphere: Outer Space. While it may seem like a separate world, developments in Space reflect what happens on Earth – and vice versa. Technological and political dynamics shape each other in ways that influence global relations.
The issue consists of research notes and is the result of a generous and productive collaboration between JASS and the Finnish chapter of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, as described by Dr Katariina Simonen in her Introduction.
We hope this issue offers our readers an exciting new perspective on the realities of demilitarisation: https://jass.journal.fi